+ conceptinload: Justifiers +

+ conceptinload: Justifiers +

+ Their broadcast, when it came, was in the voice of angels. Nothing could sound so justifiable; so reassuring. The seraphic choir that delivered their request for succour bred confidence. That was how we came to allow them berth alongside our craft. +

+ Their codes were old. That is not unusual out here, near the galactic rim. Theirs, however were positively ancient. That might have given our Captain pause, were the comms officer not so beguiled that she approved the translation. + 

+ Sloppy? Perhaps. We were merchants, not soldiers. Perhaps we were melancholy. It is... lonely in the sea of stars. Their transmission was a welcome contact. More voices to speak to; more people to see. Any shipsign is a cause for excitement out there. +

+ Besides. Space Marines? The Emperor's Own Angels? What captain could resist offering them assistance? Their requests were so small; and we detected the hint of suffering behind their calm nobility. What could a good Imperial servant desire more than to help his master? +

+ We allowed them alongside. We prepared tonnes of materiel, hull plating, cording, power amplifiers, gearing. Specialists. Withinlookmen, alchemical workers and starguides. A battalion of ratings, their faces scrubbed and pates gleamingly shaved. They took it all; before they came aboard. Perhaps we were naïve. More likely we were greedy. Could we expect the favour of an Astartes Captain? A Chapter Master? +

+ We prepared a banquet. The senior staff were in full dress; as were the armsmen. We gossipped. Had any of us seen an Astartes? We'd all heard stories. We'd all seen the devotional vids. Old Tsimo even recited some old story that included all seven of the First Chapters – from the White Stars to the mysterious Crow Legion. We giggled at that. Old stories. Legends. +

+ They requested we powered down our voids, and as we complied, they drifted closer. Umbilical whips coiled slowly in the void and tremblingly caressed the flanks of our craft; finding pre-determined inlets. +

+ Finally, the boarding tube. We watched as it extended; clustered excitedly around our vidscreens like scholam boys. As it drew closer, an archivoservitor finally coughed out an ident based on their Chapter symbol. +

+ None of us had ever heard of them. A newer chapter, perhaps? Making their name out near the rim, where adventure could be found and new worlds still waited to be discovered? It was exciting. Word Bearers. Their very name inspired confidence. +

+ Extracted from the Testament of Steersman Van Egler, late of the merchant craft Comet; during his excrutiation at the hands of Inquisitor Vo. +

+++

+ What if, in trying to improve things, you dug yourself in deeper? +

+ That's the question behind Chaos, for me. Small steps; tiny compromises – all perfectly justifiable at the time – that gradually lead to a fall. Inevitable. That's the tragedy of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The choice is surrender to a lifetime toiling under the crushing weight of the monolithic, uncaring Imperium, or freedom – but infinite freedom. Freedom from duty; from obligation. Freedom from weakness – and sanity, and form, and your own soul... +

+ Not a nice choice to make! I'd like to explore that a little bit, and the An-Angau campaign seems a great place to try. The Blade-slaves from the Horus Heresy character series are fantastic models. Huge, too – they tower over even the Gal Vorbak. These will find a place in the An-Angau campaign, and so require a little conversion work. +

+ A power axe from the Dark Vengeance Chaos Marines fits nicely in place of the model's original distinctive blade. +

+ I'd like to have a go at a mixed Chaos force; classic Rogue Trader – everything from Space Marines to ambulls and blokes in periwigs. In the bit of colour text above, I've tried to hint at just how ignorant people in the 41st Millennium are; and I'd like to extend that to the Chaos force, too. There might be Space Marines who were present during the Heresy; but even they've had ten thousand years of madness to distort the truth (if they ever knew it at all). +

+ Similarly I prefer the idea of the Chaos pantheon as Cthulhu-esque beings, whose concerns and way of thinking is unutterably alien, rather than a panto-esque pastiche of groups like the Greek or Norse Gods. For that reason, I'd like to avoid too many obvious marks of devotion, and instead look at Chaos in broad terms. It'll also allow me to play around with models I like, rather than restricting myself to one God. Word Bearers seem the perfect choice for the Space Marine members, then. +

+ A completely unconverted marine – though that sword's likely to be changed. +

+ Huge and imposing models. +